{% include "includes/auth/janrain/signIn_traditional.html" with message='It looks like you are already verified. If you still have trouble signing in, you probably need a new confirmation link email.' %}

K.J. Choi the man as his “bois” help carry him to victory at Players

PONTE VEDRA BEACH – Nowhere was the globalization of golf more evident than this week at the Players Championship.

South Korea’s K.J. Choi defeated David Toms in a playoff to become the fourth straight international winner – and seventh in 10 years – of the PGA Tour’s showcase event.

Six good ol’ boys from Tennessee cheered Choi every step of the way.

“Choi’s Bois” are a group of five buddies from Nashville, Tenn., and the father of two of them.

The fans grew to like Choi at the 2005 Players Championship because of the way he treated the gallery, win or lose.

“No matter if he birdied or double-bogeyed, he still paid the same amount of attention to the fans,” ringleader Brad Page, 27, said.

Page said Choi showed him and his friends the more love than any of the players, so he decided to steal a page from another group of fans – “Funk’s Punks,” a group that cheered Fred Funk to a Players win in 2005 – and form “Choi’s Bois.”

Brad’s 30-year-old brother, Bo, and their father, Bobby, 53, made the 600-mile trip to the Jacksonville area with fellow “bois” Curtis Gribble, 27, and Alex Kirkland, 30, to watch their favorite player once again.

This time, the sextet upped the ante and donned black T-shirts reading “Choi’s Bois,” made by Gribble, who surprised his friends once they arrived in Florida.

By Sunday’s marathon finish, the shirts were a well-worn and a little ripe after being worn four days in the Florida heat and humidity.

“We had to use quite a bit of Febreze to get them ready for today,” Kirkland joked.

It was worth it to see their favorite player come up with the biggest win of his career.

After the trophy presentation, Choi waved his biggest fans inside the ropes to join him for a picture.